Secondment of teachers in Nghe An: Balancing the team, ensuring fairness

GD&TĐ - Implementing the two-level local government, the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An was assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to carry out the secondment, rotation, and transfer of teachers in the 2025-2026 school year.

During the implementation process, more than 800 teachers were seconded and transferred, contributing to the regulation and balance of staff for schools.

Delegation by request

Before the opening day of the new school year 2025 - 2026, Ms. Pham Thi Hang officially received the notice of assignment to Town 2 Secondary School (Van An Commune). This is a great joy for her when she returns to her "right role" in teaching.

Ms. Hang graduated from the Mathematics Pedagogy major and taught on contract in the old Nam Dan district. At that time, the locality did not have a recruitment target for junior high school teachers, while the preschool level was short of teachers. Ms. Hang studied for an additional degree to be recruited to teach at Nam Dan Town Kindergarten under Circular 09 of the Ministry of Education and Training in 2016 and was officially admitted to the preschool staff in 2020.

Having been involved in preschool education for nearly 10 years, Ms. Hang is still waiting for the opportunity to return to being a Math teacher. Until the 2024-2025 school year, Nam Dan district (old) lacked secondary school teachers, so she was assigned to Town 2 Secondary School.

“After a long hiatus from my profession, when I returned to teaching Math, the general education program had completely changed. Textbooks, methods, and ways of organizing tests and evaluating students were all new. But with the help of the school and the Math department, I gradually caught up with the program and got into the teaching routine. Students absorbed the lessons and cooperated well in class activities, making me confident and happy to be back to myself,” she confided.

However, after only one year of teaching, before implementing the two-level local government, the seconded teachers were "returned" to work at their old schools, including Ms. Pham Thi Hang.

She shared that she still wanted to continue teaching Math at the secondary school level. Therefore, when the department had a policy of seconding and rotating teachers, she did not hesitate to register immediately. For now, the term of secondment for teachers is not more than 3 years, but her wish is to teach at the secondary school level for a long time.

At the beginning of this school year, Town 2 Secondary School received 4 seconded teachers. Mr. Le Thang Long - Principal said: The seconded teachers are all enthusiastic, hard-working, and responsible.

The secondment not only meets the desire of teachers to teach in the right field, but also helps schools solve the problem of staff shortage. This year, Town 2 Secondary School has 25 classes but only 34 teachers, 13 less than the regulation. After being reinforced with 4 more teachers, the school has also reduced the pressure.

Mr. Dang Hoai Nam - Vice Chairman of Van An Commune People's Committee said: Previously, the old Nam Dan district had a surplus of secondary school teachers, so many contract teachers had to study for additional qualifications and were recruited into the preschool staff. However, their main expertise was still teaching cultural subjects, so many teachers wished to return to their major if there were vacancies or transfers.

An IT lesson at Trung Phuc Cuong 2 Primary School (Thien Nhan, Nghe An ). Photo: Ngoc Son

Flexible and practical

Due to the surplus of teachers, in the 2025-2026 school year, Nam Can Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Na Ngoi Commune) has 7 teachers on secondment to other schools. Among them, Ms. NTTH was seconded to Huu Kiem Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, but due to poor health conditions and a serious illness, she wished to return to her old school. After understanding the teachers' wishes, Nghe An Department of Education and Training decided to transfer Ms. H. back to Nam Can Primary and Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities.

Regarding Huu Kiem Primary Ethnic Minority Boarding School, Mr. Tran Van Thang - Principal said that before the 2025 - 2026 school year, the school was short of more than 7 teachers and requested to add 4 people. "Currently, Ms. H. has transferred to the old school, we have rearranged the timetable, other teachers are teaching more hours. The school is also planning to contract 3 teachers to make up for the shortage of staff", said the Principal of Huu Kiem Primary Ethnic Minority Boarding School.

Meanwhile, Hien Son Secondary School, Bach Ha Commune, was assigned 7 teachers, including 3 primary school teachers and 4 teachers from other secondary schools. The teachers from different levels are all in special subjects, such as: Information Technology, English, Physical Education, etc.

Ms. Vo Thi Le Thuy - English teacher said that the distance from the old school to the new school is about 5 km so the travel is quite difficult. However, she determined that in the current context, transfer and rotation are normal and hoped that after completing the task, she would be given conditions to return to the old school.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dan - Principal of Hien Son Secondary School said: Thanks to the increase in teachers, the school has solved the problem of serious teacher shortage. However, the term of secondment of teachers is not more than 3 years, so in the long term, the school wishes to supplement the staff with a reasonable teacher structure. Thereby, helping teachers feel secure in their commitment and the school will also be more convenient in arranging and assigning work, improving professional quality.

In addition to being seconded, some officials are assigned to teach inter-school to temporarily solve the shortage of teachers, especially in gifted subjects, English, IT, or subjects with few periods such as Chemistry - Biology. In Yen Xuan commune, the teaching staff is basically stable and balanced, so only one English teacher from Linh Son Primary School is assigned to teach inter-school Cao Son Secondary School.

In Quy Chau commune, Chau Nga Primary School has been reinforced with two English teachers, both in the form of inter-school teaching. Ms. Bui Thi Ha - Principal of the school said that thanks to the additional teachers, the school has organized English teaching with the number of hours guaranteed according to the 2018 General Education Program.

Teaching inter-school will be more difficult for teachers, so schools will discuss, agree, and arrange the most convenient timetable for teachers. However, this is the most suitable solution in the condition that schools in the area lack English teachers.

Balance the team

To solve the problem of teacher shortage, Nghe An has just deployed and transferred more than 800 teachers at preschool, primary and secondary levels. This is also the first time the Department of Education and Training has been assigned by the People's Committee of Nghe An province to deploy and transfer teachers instead of the district authorities as before.

According to the Department's instructions, the transfer and assignment can be carried out for 1-3 years. However, in the list of secondments, there are some teachers who have "asked for long-term transfer", and there are also teachers who, due to their own circumstances, have asked to shorten the time or not go on secondment.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh - Deputy Head of the Personnel Organization Department, Nghe An Department of Education and Training informed: Among the more than 800 transferred teachers, there are quite a few cases that were seconded when the district government was still in power and the 3-year period has not yet ended. Therefore, the teachers will continue to be seconded from this school year until the end of the prescribed period.

In addition, based on the shortage of staff in schools, some teachers are seconded. Long-term transfers are based on the wishes of teachers, and are based on the number of staff and salary funds of the schools. Therefore, although there are more than 10 cases of long-term transfers, only more than half are eligible for job transfer.

Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training said: In the process of seconding and transferring teachers, the department has calculated and balanced the surplus and shortage in the whole industry and considered priority and specific subjects. In addition, the department also has the viewpoint of transferring core teachers and professional core from places with a lot to places with a shortage and weakness. This is also a factor to ensure students have fair access to education .

Immediately after the secondment of more than 800 teachers, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training is developing a plan to recruit more than 1,000 staff to supplement the schools. After recruitment, the department will calculate the teacher ratio to continue to make reasonable adjustments, including rearranging the secondment cases.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/biet-phai-giao-vien-tai-nghe-an-can-doi-doi-ngu-bao-dam-cong-bang-post752772.html